Mini Peanut Butter Nutella Cupcakes

So I've made a decision: I am going to bake a TON this weekend.  I have a bunch of events and I am going to be that person who shows up to them with food.  I can't wait.  Also, I am just in a baking mood.  Weird right?


This week was ridiculously long and now that it is the weekend I want to do something relaxing.  That means cooking.  It is also almost Valentine's Day, that means that whenever I am browsing the internet looking for good recipes all I find are pictures of crazy-good-looking sweets.  That means baking.

Mini Peanut Butter Nutella Cupcakes just seemed too good to be true.  This recipe combines my love of peanut butter, nutella, and mini things. If you just tuned in, I'm on a "mini" kick.  I've already made mini chocolate chip cookie skillets and mini heart cheesecakes.  I also purchased a mini muffin pan with a holiday gift card and that led to mini chocolate chip banana muffins.  Now, it's time for mini cupcakes.

Mini Peanut Butter Nutella Cupcakes (adapted from 52 Kitchen Adventures)

For the Cupcakes:

Ingredients:
1/3 cup butter, softened (I used salted and reduced the salt for the recipe)
1/2 cup natural peanut butter
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup milk (I used 1%)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease cupcake pan.
2. In a large bowl, beat butter, peanut butter, and sugar until well combined and light and fluffy.  Mix in eggs and vanilla.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.  Alternate adding the dry ingredients and milk to the wet ingredients starting and ending with the dry ingredients and mixing in between additions until just combined.
4. Fill cupcake pan so that wells are 2/3 full. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.  Cool completely before frosting.

For the Frosting:


Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup nutella
1 cup powdered sugar
1-2 tbsp milk

Directions:
Beat butter until smooth.  Beat in the nutella until well combined.  Slowly beat in the powdered sugar.  Add 1 tbsp of milk.  Add more milk or powdered sugar as desired.

I used my piping tools to frost the cupcakes.

Enjoy :)